Aarde: Shattered Dimension

Act II

Webs of Secrets and Mysteries

The group stands victorious after the defeat of the orc warband.

The group has been dispatched to Brionne to do battle with a Necromancer. Upon arrival, the group encounters a rival mercenary band that is already on site. There is a gnome animator, dwarven knight and a human leader. They are organizing and animating guardians for the defense of the village.

The group pretends to leave the village and allow these mercenaries to continue to perform. They actually leave the town to investigate the necromancer themselves. Using the tracking skills of the elven scout and the survival skills of Keleivis, the group locates the den of the necromancer and manages to subdue her.

Finishing the Job

After their initial excursion, the group finds a relatively safe place to camp in the mountain pass. However, in the middle of the night Marbas succumbs to an illness, incapacitating him. So the other three adventurers face the battle alone.
During scouting, it is discovered that the War Chiefs are always escorted by a squad of 15 orcs and a Troll.
Using information gathered from their orc captives, the group decides that instead of fighting they will use the division within the Orc Clan to their advantage.
Using a showy display of power and persuasion, the group convinces the Orc War Chief to turn on the Clan Chief Dakral.
The resulting mutiny ends in the slaughter of half the orc tribe, but the gradual ally of their new Clan Chief and the departure of the orcs from Brandywine.
Now the group must discover the secrets of the mysterious woman, who the Clan all believe to be the true power behind Dakral and his desire to raid this area.

First Blood

After training for about 8 weeks, the three player characters are dispatched to a small village outside of Brionne. They will receive instructions to report to the Mayor of the Village, one Randlar Brandywine. He informs the group that the village has been under a raid of orcs, ogres and trolls for the last year. Brionne has sent down fighting men from the City Watch to dispatch them three times. Each time has been a failure and men have died horridly.

The Dictorate of Brionne reached out to several mercenary guilds, but General Tigron, leader of the Mercenary band was the most ready to respond. The town seems to be discouraged by the number of respondants. The group will be discharged by the mayor to attempt to handle this problem the way that they feel is best.

Tracking and survival based skill checks reveal a central base of operations for the orcs. The group hunts down two of the orc raiding bands and eliminates them.

Introductions

The Canish Empire is recruiting soldiers, mages and other skilled individuals to adventure on behalf of the people and try to control the “Rift Monster” problem. They are supporting privatized armies and allowing for mercenary groups to form unabated. The group will be contacted by one such mercenary group for conscription. Some of them will be contacted peacefully, some will be abducted, none will be allowed to leave. This will begin the training of the group and their skill sets.

This is a larger mercenary force of around 1200 individuals. Included in the mercenary group will be several bands of smaller forces, some with more authority than others. Big names will include: ‘Dordyson’s Legion’, ‘Angel Blades’, ‘Skywanderers’, ‘Mandagar Giantkiller and the Seven Saviors’, and the most mysterious group ‘Sephistos’.

Training is overseen by four high ranking officers from each power house. Relan the Commander is over the fighting men. His two veteran assistants are Vedici, an elf who trains the light warriors and speed based fighters; and Bungar the dwarf, showing heavy fighters the ways of battle. The three are extremely hands on, and discipline is harshly metted out. Running the academy is Gjinn, a mage of unknown race and heritage, Gjinn never is seen, but the words are carried by messengers and other instructors to the students. Father Sean runs the church located on the grounds. He claims to be a priest of the pantheon, but no one seems to believe that is where his true loyalties lie. Dondar is the lead spy and information tactician of the mercenary band. He conducts regular training sessions with the students and is known throughout the band.

Key points on the training grounds will be the Church, the Barracks, the Command Bunkers and the Arena.